School Fundraiser Pairs Engaging Activity with Special Date

A special date, day, and celebration took place last week at Peak Charter Academy as the school raised money for a good cause, and students rejoiced in a messy good time. Students were tasked with raising money to help pay for transportation for some Peak students to attend the Special Olympics Games in Raleigh. Their reward was the opportunity to throw a pie in the face of their favorite teacher or school leader.
 
That contest, dreamed up by the Peak Charter Academy Parent Teacher Organization, ended with the pie-throwing event held on Pi Day, March 14 (or 3.14 for you math fanatics). PTO President Angi van de Sande said the group finds joy supporting the many events and projects at Peak.


 
“A little over $1,200 was raised, which is great,” van de Sande said. “It was a good event. The kids really enjoyed it and they were very excited about it. We’ll definitely do it again.”
 
Two winning groups made up of kindergarten through fourth graders and fifth through eighth graders won the honors to distribute pies to staff faces, some being more popular than others.



“(Executive Principal Steve Pond) always participates, and he really took one for the team because he did both middle school and elementary,” van de Sande said. “Coach (Wes) Myrick did both events as well. We also had a couple teachers from middle school and a couple from elementary.”

Principal Pond drew much of the attention from pie-throwers, outdone only by one middle school teacher: ELA Teacher Sharla Shoenberger.
 
“Most of them didn’t get it too bad, but I think Mrs. Shellenberger got it the worst, I think she took most of the pies. Steve did take more than 12 or 15 though, he probably took half of the elementary group, which was 30 kids. It was a really fun event, and everyone was engaged.”


 
The PTO plans many events throughout the year for Peak and works to support the teachers as well. With that kind of support, it’s no wonder why Peak has outperformed the local district since 2017-18 when the school opened.

“We are in the process of planning field day right now and we try to pay for what we can for our school,” she said. “That’s important to us. We’re a pretty active PTO, so from doing all the dances, to field day, whatever they need from us. We’re going to be supporting a play soon as well. We just try to stay connected and give them what they need as much as we can.”
 
Great work supporting scholars, Peak!
About Peak Charter Academy
Peak Charter Academy is a tuition-free, public charter school in Apex, North Carolina, serving students in kindergarten through eighth grade. It is part of the National Heritage Academies network, which includes more than 100 tuition-free, public charter schools serving more than 65,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade across nine states. For more information, visit nhaschools.com.

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